“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Matthew 5:31-32 We now come to one of the most controversial sayings of Jesus. […]
We all sin in many ways and each of us has temptations that we are more vulnerable to. Some sins are more serious and destructive than others. God calls us to recognize the seriousness of sin and see how destructive it can be in our lives if unaddressed.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to […]
The moral law reflects the character and nature of God. As such, the morals found in the Old and New Testament point back to him. Unless the character and nature of God change then his moral law cannot change.
We demonstrate the gospel through our actions, and we declare the gospel through our words. Both are necessary for a believer to help a person come to know God.
We should not be surprised that, left to itself, the world is going to continue its downward slide into immorality. It is our proclaiming then living out the gospel that is the decisive influence in impacting the world around us. We must also be willing to clearly and articulately defend biblical truth whenever it is contradicted or called into question.
Our sinful default tendency is to be a Peacekeeper and not a Peacemaker. A peacekeeper will try to smooth things over and not ruffle anyone’s feathers by avoiding or ignoring the situation.
There are two types of values we are looking at, “actual” values and “aspirational” values. Actual values are those things that we are passionate about that we are already doing and are what motivate us as a congregation. Aspirational values are those values which we see are biblically central to every local church, but they are values we need to grow in.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” Matthew 5:8 In one sense, this is a very straightforward statement. But we need to ask ourselves what does he mean by the word, “pure,” and what is our, “heart”? First, what does the Bible say about our heart? Jesus says of our hearts, “But what comes out of […]
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Matthew 5:7 Why is mercy so important? Mercy is an aspect of grace. It has been said that grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, and mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. James Montgomery Boice tells us that mercy is the aspect of God’s grace […]
